The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) was established in 1997 in a bid to reverse declining wild-capture fisheries by using consumer power to generate change. Since we became independent in 1999, 22 fisheries have passed the independent assessment against MSC’s standard for sustainable fisheries and about 40 more are in the programme.

In October 2006, after an extensive 3-year consultation with stakeholders, the MSC decided not to expand the scope of its eco-label to include aquaculture. This difficult decision represented a re-assertion of the core mission of the MSC and was not intended as a comment on the sustainability of aquaculture or its merit as regards certification.

The MSC is an independent, not-for-profit organisation based almost entirely on grant funding and, as such, has limited resources. Expanding MSC certification to include aquaculture would have required diluting those resources available to pursue our core aim - to contribute to reversing the decline of fish stocks, deliver real and measurable improvements in the marine environment and to safeguard livelihoods of those involved in the fishing industry. Standards for aquaculture have been available from WWF for a number of years and many of the seafood cards available also include aquaculture. We felt that the greatest contribution the MSC can make is to continue to focus our efforts on wild-capture fisheries.

Although the MSC has decided not to start an aquaculture certification programme, we do recognise the importance of aquaculture and the need to differentiate well-managed from not so well-managed production systems so that consumers can make an informed choice about the environmental impact of their seafood choice. As Dr Martin Jaffa pointed out last week, many farmed species rely on wild-captured fish to provide feed. In order to ensure the sustainability of these wild-capture fish used for feed stocks in aquaculture, the MSC is encouraging feed fisheries to apply for MSC certification.

The MSC certification programme is open to all feed fisheries and, in October 2006, the Gulf of California sardine fishery (where around 85% of the catch is used for reduction to fishmeal), entered full assessment – the first feed fishery to enter the programme. I hope that many more will follow as producers start to ask for certified sustainable feed.

Retailers and consumers are showing an increasing preference for sustainably sourced fish. In the UK, Sainsbury and Marks & Spencer (and in the US, Wal-Mart) have signalled their intention to move over to 100% certified fish on their shelves and customers asking for certified fish can now find the MSC’s distinctive blue eco-label on over 600 products worldwide. Last year, global sales of MSC-labelled products were worth over $236 million – a 76 per cent increase on the previous year. With these customers and retailers increasingly prepared to pay more for certified sustainable products, we should not underestimate the added value of sustainability.

Whether wild-capture or aquaculture, we all have a responsibility to ensure that the way we produce fish does not damage the environment that we rely on for our businesses. Overfishing is a global problem and, while eco-labeling will not solve all of the enormous challenges the global fish industries face, MSC certification of wild-capture and feed fisheries is a vital tool to ensure that our industries are not contributing to that problem.

The MSC web site has a list of countries with suppliers of sustainable fish. Click here to see it.